Work discussion in English nurseries: reflecting on their contribution so far and issues in developing their aims and processes; and the assessment of their impact in a climate of austerity and intense audit

In this paper, we argue for the past and continuing relevance of Work Discussion, as a model of professional reflection for nursery practitioners, which is attentive to emotional experience in work relationships. The development of Work Discussion in English nurseries is described with illustrations, from a psychoanalytic perspective, of aspects of the processes of discussion and their underlying dynamics; and we also explore the introduction of Work Discussion to the training regimen of early years’ teachers. Finally, the paper summarises the key findings arising from an evaluation of Work Discussion sessions, with nursery practitioners working with vulnerable two-year -olds, held at weekly intervals for a year, and facilitated jointly by early years’ care and education specialists together with child psychotherapists

Fifteen-year experiences of the internationally shared aquifer resources management initiative (ISARM) of UNESCO at the global scale

Study region: Global scale. Study focus: This paper highlights the main outputs and outcomes of the Internationally Shared Aquifer Resources Management Initiative (ISARM, 2000–2015) of UNESCO on the global scale. We discuss the lessons learned, what is still relevant in ISARM, and what we consider irrelevant and why. We follow with discussion on the looming scenarios and the next steps following the awareness on transboundary aquifers (TBAs) as identified by ISARM. New insights for the region: This analysis emphasizes the need for more scientific data, widespread education and training, and a more clearly defined role for governments to manage groundwater at the international level. It describes the links, approach and relevance of studies on TBAs to the UN Law of Transboundary Aquifers and on how they might fit regional strategies to assess and manage TBAs. The study discusses an important lesson learned on whether groundwater science can solve transboundary issues alone. It has become clear that science should interact with policy makers and social entities to have meaningful impacts on TBAs. Bringing together science, society, law, policy making, and harmonising information, would be important drivers and the best guidance for further assessments. ISARM can still make contributions, but it could be redesigned to support resolving TBAs issues which, in addition to science (hydrogeology), require considering social, political, economic and environmental factors. ISARM can increase its international dimension in the continents that still lag behind the assessment and shared management of TBAs, such as Asia and Africa.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Faunal community consequence of interspecific bark trait dissimilarity in early-stage decomposing logs

Dead tree trunks have significant ecosystem functions related to biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles. When lying on the soil surface, they are colonized by an array of invertebrate fauna, but what determines their community composition is still unclear. We apply community assembly theory to colonization of tree logs by invertebrates. During early decomposition, the attached bark is critically important as an environment filter for community assembly through habitat provision. Specifically, we hypothesized that the more dissimilar bark traits were between tree species, the more their faunal community compositions would differ. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the effects of bark traits on the invertebrate communities in the early-decomposing logs of 11 common, temperate tree species placed in the ‘common garden’ experiment LOGLIFE. Bark traits included bark looseness, fissure index, outer bark thickness, ratio of inner to outer bark thickness, punch resistance, water storage capacity and bark pH. The predominant faunal groups studied were Annelida, Isopoda, Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Diptera and Coleoptera. Our results showed (i) strong interspecific differences in bark traits, (ii) that bark traits related to environmental buffering had profound effects on the abundance of specific invertebrate groups, and (iii) the higher the overall bark trait dissimilarity between tree species, the more dissimilar these tree species were in faunal community composition, and the higher was the joint invertebrate family richness. A suite of bark traits together has fundamental afterlife effects on invertebrate community assembly, strongly filtering the colonizing invertebrates in early-decomposing logs, driving variation in their community composition and diversity. Our findings indicate that bark trait dissimilarity among tree species in forest stands is likely a better indicator of early-phase dead trunk fauna diversity than tree species diversity per se. A lay summary is available for this article.</p

Elastic properties of B-C-N films grown by N2-reactive sputtering from boron carbide targets

The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 114.21 (2013): 213508 and may be found at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/114/21/10.1063/1.4837655Boron-carbon-nitrogen films were grown by RF reactive sputtering from a B4C target and N2 as reactive gas. The films present phase segregation and are mechanically softer than boron carbide films (a factor of more than 2 in Young's modulus). This fact can turn out as an advantage in order to select buffer layers to better anchor boron carbide films on substrates eliminating thermally induced mechanical tensions.This work has been supported by Spanish MINECO under contracts MAT2009-08786 and MAT2012-37276- C03-01 as well as by the Madrid Regional Government though contract S2009/MAT-1756

Sub-jet structure as a discriminating quenching probe

In this work, we propose a new class of jet substructure observables which, unlike fragmentation functions, are largely insensitive to the poorly known physics of hadronization. We show that sub-jet structures provide us with a large discriminating power between different jet quenching Monte Carlo implementations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Quarks Matter conference 201

Work discussion in English nurseries: reflecting on their contribution so far and issues in developing their aims and processes; and the assessment of their impact in a climate of austerity and intense audit

In this paper, we argue for the past and continuing relevance of Work Discussion, as a model of professional reflection for nursery practitioners, which is attentive to emotional experience in work relationships. The development of Work Discussion in English nurseries is described with illustrations, from a psychoanalytic perspective, of aspects of the processes of discussion and their underlying dynamics; and we also explore the introduction of Work Discussion to the training regimen of early years’ teachers. Finally, the paper summarises the key findings arising from an evaluation of Work Discussion sessions, with nursery practitioners working with vulnerable two-year -olds, held at weekly intervals for a year, and facilitated jointly by early years’ care and education specialists together with child psychotherapists

The leper’s image through the translation of his names in the biblical literature of the early medieval Germanic area

La figura del leproso era bien conocida en la Edad Media, tal como atestiguan numerosos textos literarios a partir del siglo X, así como los estudios que se han publicado posteriormente sobre esta temática. Ahora bien, la terminología empleada para designar a una persona que padece lepra en traducciones de textos neotestamentarios a lenguas germánicas antiguas, con anterioridad al siglo X, constituye un campo menos analizado hasta la fecha. En el presente trabajo se analizan los términos para «leproso» tanto en las lenguas de partida (griego y latín), como en las lenguas meta (gótico, inglés antiguo, alto alemán antiguo), al objeto de comprobar si se emplean términos parecidos, así como si el mismo término en la lengua de partida se traduce siempre con el mismo término en la lengua meta. Además de un análisis morfológico de los términos empleados en las lenguas meta, ya que existe la sospecha de que no en todos los casos se contaba con un sustantivo propio para designar al enfermo, se intenta identificar la imagen que cada término transmite acerca del leproso, atendiendo a los aspectos que estos más realzan, como, por ejemplo, aspectos de índole física-médica, frente a otros de carácter sociales o, más bien, relacionados con el aspecto externo, como, por ejemplo, la indumentaria. En cuanto a las conclusiones del estudio, cabe destacar la falta de homogeneidad terminológica en las lenguas meta, así como una amplia diversidad en lo que respecta al origen y contenido semánticos de los términos para «leproso» en estas mismas lenguas, lo cual parece indicar que había diferencias considerables acerca dela imagen que transmitían los diferentes términos sobre este tipo de enfermos.That the leper was a well-known figure during the Middle Ages is shown by many literary texts from the 10th century on, as well as manyacademic studies published afterwards on this topic. However, the terminology used for people suffering from lepra in translations of the New Testament into old Germanic languages before the 10th century is a less studied field. In this article,the terms for «leper»are analysedin the source languages (Greek and Latin) as well as in the target languages (Gothic, Old English and Old High German) to ascertain whether similar terms are used in the target languages, or whether the same term in the source language is always translated with the same term in the target language. In addition to morphological analysis of the termsused in the target languages, since there is presumably no proper noun for «leper», this study aims to identify the image of the leper provided by each term by focusing on the aspects that these terms highlight, such as those concerning a physical-medicalscope compared to other ones focusing on social aspects or the physical aspect, such as clothing. As for the conclusions of the study, it is worth noting the lack of terminological homogeneity in the target languages, as well as the wide diversity in semantic origin and content of the terms for «leper»in these very languages. This seems to indicate the existence of remarkable differences regarding the view of the people suffering from this disease, which is conveyed by the different terms